54. Spanish Pathways in Florida: 1492-1992/Los Caminos Espanoles En La Florida : 1492-1992 (English and Spanish Edition) edited by Ann L. Henderson & Gary R. Mormino
Translators: Carlos J. Cano, José A. Feliciano-Butler & Warren Hampton
published: 1991
format: 338 page paperback. Even pages English, odd pages Spanish (169 pages per language)
acquired: 2011, from Books & Books in Coral Gables (my favorite south Florida bookstore)
read: Dec 9-13
rating: 4

Essays:
1. Introduction by [[Ann L. Henderson]] & [[Gary R. Mormino]]
2. In Search of Spanish Pathways by [[Bailey Thomson]]
3. The Invasion of Florida: Disease and the Indians of Florida by [[Henry F. Dobyns]]
4. Hernando de Soto’s Entrada into La Florida by [[Jerald T. Milanich]]
5. Pedro Menéndez de Avilés by [[Eugene Lyon]]
6. Thomas Menéndez Márquez: Criollo, Cattlemen, and Contador by [[Amy Turner Bushnell]]
7. Father Juan de Paiva: Spanish Friar in Colonial Florida by [[John H. Hann]]
8. Francisco Javier Sánchez: Floridano Planter by [[Jane G. Landers]]
9. Fort Mose: America’s First Free Black Community by [[Kathleen A. Deagan]]
10. Better than Gold: Plants in the New World by [[Charlotte M. Porter]]
11. The Moreno Family of the Gulf Coast by [[William S. Coker]]
12. José Marti: Context and Consciousness by [[Louis A. Pérez Jr.]]
13. Paulina Pedroso and Las Patriotas of Tampa by [[Nancy A. Hewitt]]
14. Mario Sánchez: Folk Artist of Key West and Tampa by [[Diane Lesko]]
15. Maurice Ferré: Xavier Suarez, and the Ethnic Factor in Miami Politics by [[Raymond A. Mohl]]
16. The Columbus Quincentenary: What Will We Celebrate? by [[Michael V. Gannon]]

Another dusty book off the shelf, this one found originally in my favorite south Florida book story, Books & Books in Coral Gables. It is a project of the Florida Humanities Council, with significant funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities, and with several authors having various associations with the Florida History Society, all having in common my lack of awareness of their existence (although I might have assumed Florida had some kind of historical society). The book was designed to come out in the 500th anniversary of the first Columbus voyage.

The physical book has visual appeal, and I like that it's bilingual, every essay translated in both English and Spanish (but I only read the English). And, having now read it, I like that the authors are roughly male/female equivalent, as far as I could tell. And, finally, having just read and listened to two difficult books, I like that it had simple, easy to understand sentences and paragraphs, all designed to actually efficiently convey clear information.

Each essay is very light, quick and informative. Most are around ten pages, and I learned a lot, such as of the community of Cuban cigar wrappers who arrived in Key West and Ybor City (in Tampa) in the late 19th century, who worked with a designated full time reader. The reader sat with them and read the newspapers in the morning and classic literature in the afternoon. And, these groups were actually politically significant, playing, for example, a critical role in the career of José Marti.

The book is heavy on the Spanish years (which lasted longer than the American...err—United States years.) But, it kind of fails to say that Spanish settlement was, in the big picture, not very successful. Florida natives were basically entirely wiped out, mainly by disease and the United States got a pretty empty Florida with a few key forts and ranches.

So, an easy, informative read, and a nice book to have. Enjoyed it.

2017
https://www.librarything.com/topic/260412#6281210 ( )